FTSE 100 preview: Banks to lead rise

The FTSE 100 was seen opening 25 to 31 points higher by financial bookmakers on Monday, tracking gains in Asian equities as fears subsided that the US would introduce a harsh bill regulating the banking sector.

Monday moves: Shares are seen as rising.

The blue chip index was seen gaining 0.6%, after a run of four days of consecutive losses. It closed down 1.1% at 5,046.47 points on Friday.

Leaders of the Group of 20 nations agreed on Sunday to take different paths for cutting budget deficits and making their banking systems safer, a reflection of the uneven and fragile economic recovery in many countries.

In a change of direction from the unity of the past three crisis-era G20, the leaders left room to move at their own pace and adopt 'differentiated and tailored' policies.

Japan's Nikkei average extended falls on Monday, however, after closing below a key support level, having booked its biggest weekly loss in a month last week.

Monthly house price rises in England and Wales slowed marginally in June, but nonetheless took the annual rise in prices to the largest since January 2008, property data company Hometrack said on Monday.

Growth in Britain's financial sector fell far short of expectations over the last three months, but a large majority of finance firms predict an improvement in the third quarter, according to a survey.

Some 38% of finance companies polled by the Confederation of British Industry and auditors PricewaterhouseCoopers reported a rise in business volumes in the second quarter against 29% reporting a decline, giving a net balance of 9%.

Standard Chartered said it was on track for a strong performance in the first half of the year as its key Asian markets fared better than the west and it is taking market share, although margins weakened.

BP could plug the leaking well in the Gulf of Mexico in mid-July, two weeks earlier than its current guidance of early August, British newspaper The Sunday Times said.

The first named storm of the Atlantic hurricane season was on track on Saturday to reach the Gulf of Mexico within days, a potential threat to containment and cleanup of the worst ever US oil spill.

Gluey gobs of thick oil from the Gulf of Mexico spill washed ashore in Mississippi for the first time on Sunday as Russia called for a special levy on oil companies to finance a fund to help clean up environmental disasters like this one.

Royal Dutch Shell shut subsea production at two platforms and BP evacuated some personnel from three Gulf of Mexico platforms due to the threat of tropical depression Alex, the companies said on Sunday.

Tullow Oil resumed production of gas at an onshore Bangladesh field on Saturday after repairing faults in its transmission line, a senior government official said.

Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard, who has pledged to end a row over a proposed mining tax that helped oust her predecessor, said on Sunday she believed the industry was willing to pay more to ensure a 'fairer share'.

Global miner Rio Tinto said on Sunday the new Australian Prime Minister's government has been in touch with the company over negotiating the country's controversial supertax proposal.

An experimental drug from a promising new class of medicines being developed by Bristol-Myers Squibb and AstraZeneca significantly reduced blood sugar in patients with advanced Type 2 diabetes in a late-stage clinical trial.

Separately, the drugmaker sees growth in its key China market doubling over the next five years, expanding its footprint in the world's fastest growing economy as it moves to breach the $1bn revenue mark, chief executive David Brennan said on Saturday.

The Unite union said on Sunday that it would look to postpone balloting British Airways cabin crew on further strikes to allow union members to consider the latest offer from the airline's management.